Anita Storhaug
Norwegian University of science and technology (NTNU)
Associate professor in the Department of social work. Teaching and researching child welfare.
Berit Skauge
Norwegian University of science and technology (NTNU)
Lecturer and researcher at the Department of social work. Teaching and researching child welfare.
For several years, the Norwegian child welfare legislation has emphasized children’s participation. However, increased expertise on communication with children has been requested from child welfare services, to be able to... [ view full abstract ]
For several years, the Norwegian child welfare legislation has emphasized children’s participation. However, increased expertise on communication with children has been requested from child welfare services, to be able to meet this demand from the legislation.
This paper will focus on an ongoing project where we’re conducting a document analysis of child welfare files in a Norwegian municipal child welfare service.
I 2010, one of the authors conducted a document analysis, exploring how and how much the child welfare workers talked to children. After this study was conducted, Trondheim municipality, where the study took place, has implemented an extensive competence enhancement regarding communication with children.
In this study we are currently conducting, we want to see if there has been an increase when it comes to children’s participation and documentation of communication with the children since 2010. Have the child welfare workers become better at communicating with the children? (Regarding both quantity and quality). We will also look at the impact the (eventual) conversations has for the assessments and decisions made by the child welfare.
Data from approximately 200 child welfare files, for children aged 7- 12 years will be analyzed. We will focus on how many times the child welfare worker communicates with the child, and what is the topics and focus in these conversations. Are there others who have talked to the child (for example teachers, school nurse, police), and is the content of these conversations documented in the file? How often is the child’s statements and opinions documented in the files? And what consequences does the communication with the child have for the assessments and decisions made by the child welfare service?
